1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates generally to scanning methods and systems for wireless networks, and more particularly, to methods and systems that perform additional management functions for scanning of access points in wireless networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
With portable devices being popular, applications for wireless networks have become more important and valuable. Related infrastructures, such as access points, must be set up by a service provider of wireless networks, such that users can link and login to the wireless network service via their portable devices. Generally, when users want to link to a wireless network, a wireless network connection module of a portable device must be first activated, such that the wireless network connection module can perform the function of wireless network scanning, in efforts to detect available wireless network providers in a surrounding environment.
The design of functions and modules of a portable device have more limitations and considerations due to the requirements of cost reduction and lower power consumption. For wireless network connection modules, due to the requirement of cost reduction, the size of the embedded memory for the module is always small, such that only a limited number of access points detected in the scanning procedure for wireless networks can be stored in the memory. Additionally, due to the requirement of lower power consumption, only a short period can be stayed for each wireless network channel during the scanning procedure for wireless networks, thus achieving the objective of power saving.
When the scanning procedure for wireless networks is performed in a complex wireless network environment having a large amount of access points, the scanning result (access points for wireless networks) displayed in a scanning interface may be incomplete. For example, only a part of the available access points may be displayed in the interface. The result may be misleading for users, and users may misinterpret the stability of the portable device and the wireless network environment. For example, a specific wireless access point is in the current environment, but the specific wireless access point is not on the list shown on the scanning interface, or a specific wireless access point is detected in the current scanning operation, but the specific wireless access point cannot be detected in the next scanning operation, or at the same location, the scanning results of different scanning operations are not identical. Consequently, the conventional scanning mechanisms for wireless networks may be problematic for users. If so, users may learn to not trust related devices and product, thus influencing the marketing thereof.